A soccer humiliation spins into Egypt's politics

CAIRO (AP) — A hammering 6-1 loss to Ghana was more than just a blow to Egypt's faltering hopes for a spot in next year's World Cup finals. The humiliation immediately became entangled in Egypt's bitterly divisive politics.

Supporters of Egypt's ousted Islamist president crowed that the debacle was payback for the military coup that removed Mohammed Morsi.

Politics even intruded during Tuesday night's World Cup qualifier match, held in the Ghanaian town of Kumasi. Some Ghana fans in the stands held up a four-finger gesture symbolizing support for Morsi and the Islamists — apparently to taunt the Egyptian fans, some of whom replied with angry thumbs-down gestures.

"The coup team has been defeated," proclaimed one Morsi supporter, Mohammed Ibrahim, on Twitter.

Another blamed military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who removed Morsi. "You jinxed us, el-Sissi," Mohammed Dardeer wrote on Facebook, calling the general "religiously defiled."

Egypt has been profoundly polarized by the July 3 coup. Since the ouster of Morsi — the country's first freely elected president — the new military-backed government has waged a fierce crackdown on his Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist allies.

Supporters of the military say Morsi and the Islamists tried to take over Egypt and represent a violent, radical force. Morsi supporters, in turn, accuse the military of wrecking a fledgling democracy and leading the country back into autocracy.

"It cannot be a coincidence," Alaa Sadeq, a career sports commentator turned Morsi supporter, wrote on his Twitter account after the loss. "Can success be on the side of a nation being run by a coup?"

The pro-Morsi camp was quick to note that the Pharaohs' lone goal was scored by the team's star, Mohammed Aboutrika, who openly sympathizes with the Brotherhood.

Egypt's soccer addicts have been buzzing for months that Aboutrika's political persuasion may be causing divisions in the locker room. In one incident, he got into an acrimonious political argument with an army officer assigned to escort the team to its hotel when it returned home from a foreign trip after nighttime curfew.

Brotherhood opponents accused pro-Morsi fans of rooting against their own team. That too had a political overtone: Many accuse the Brotherhood of being more loyal to its international Islamist agenda than its own nation.

"Pro-Morsi supporters who are cheering for Ghana are simply sick and twisted," wrote Nervana Mahmoud, a well-known anti-Brotherhood activist, on Twitter.

Brotherhood "people hope that Egypt loses," tweeted Mahmoud Salem, a prominent blogger known as "Sandmonkey."

Heading into the match, the government had given a pro-military spin to the team.

The sports minister said the Pharaohs were taking to Ghana "the spirit of October," referring to the October 1973 Arab-Israeli war that is touted in Egypt as a victory for its military. The minister also accompanied the team to Kumasi.

Even the airing of the match got pulled into politics. The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera network accused Egypt's state television of violating its exclusive broadcast rights by airing the match on its terrestrial channel. Egyptian authorities loathe Al-Jazeera for its perceived pro-Brotherhood bias, an accusation the network denies.

State TV chairman Essam el-Ameer insisted it was "our right" to air the match and "we will do it again with any matches we want."

"We will never surrender the rights of our people," he told the official Al-Ahram newspaper Wednesday.

The entanglement of sports and politics is not uncommon in this soccer-mad nation. Egypt's losses to Algeria in qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup finals sparked a stone-throwing assault on the Algerian Embassy in Cairo and a diplomatic spat between the two countries.

The return leg against Ghana will be played in Egypt on Nov. 19. But the Pharaohs' coach, American Bob Bradley, admitted that after Tuesday's heavy loss it was "nearly impossible" for the Egyptians to win a spot in the 2014 finals in Brazil.

The Pharaohs last reached the World Cup finals in 1990.

Egyptians have been desperately looking for something to cheer about after 2 ½ years of turmoil, including a 2012 soccer riot that killed 74 people.

Tuesday's lopsided score was all the more painful because it came on the first day of a major Muslim holiday, the Eid al-Adha, or the feast of sacrifice.

"Ghana slaughters the Pharaohs on Eid al-Adha," said Al-Ahram al-Masai, alluding to the Islamic tradition of sacrificing a sheep, goat or cow to mark the holiday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/soccer-humiliation-spins-egypts-politics-162013237--spt.html
Similar Articles: julio jones   silk road   Why Did The Government Shut Down   Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2   diana nyad  

Helena Bonham Carter on 'Burton and Taylor': 'It's Not About an Exact Science' (Q&A)

Helena Bonham Carter isn't shy about the challenges of tackling the role of Elizabeth Taylor for BBC America's Burton and Taylor.

The Oscar-nominated actress was adamant that she not do an impersonation of the legendary star -- "She's so inimitable," says Bonham Carter. Instead, she did "extensive" research, meeting with Taylor's closest friends (and even an astrologist!) to help her collect "characteristics."

Burton and Taylor, which focuses only on a sliver of time, takes place in the 1980s as tragic lovers Richard Burton and Taylor -- then twice-married and twice-divorced -- prepare to star in the stage revival of Noel Coward's Private Lives. It would be the former couple's final project together.

STORY: Helena Bonham Carter to Play Fairy Godmother in Disney's 'Cinderella'

Bonham Carter talks to The Hollywood Reporter about the challenges of portraying Taylor, what surprised her the most and her approach to the role.

What sort of preparation did you do to play Elizabeth Taylor?

It was pretty extensive. There's always the pressure to play someone who's well-known and she's so tremendously well-known. She was a screen icon. But I have to say I felt I had to do it -- not because I felt I could play her, which is a stupid idea because no one can really play her, she's so inimitable -- because I loved the piece and I loved the writing and I found it a lovely chamber piece in a way. I loved the love story that could've happened between anybody; it transcends them. I felt I couldn't do an impersonation because I don't really look like her, and my job was to capture some essence. I read her biographies and met with some girlfriends of hers and I met with an astrologist to help distill somebody and their qualities. My aunt analyzes handwriting so she was a great distiller of somebody's character. I went around collecting characteristics.

What were the discussions like when you were mapping out your performance?

When I talked to [director] Richard Laxton, we decided it was going to be a creature. It was not going to be Elizabeth. It was as if Elizabeth and I had a baby. (Laughs.) A collage. As I became involved with her, I was more and more in awe and had more respect for her. I think everybody involved in the project, their respect for her increased ten-thousand-fold. It was her humor, really, that made me want to do [the film]. When you play a part, they often leave you with something and she left with lots of gifts, like her sense of humor.

PHOTOS: Elizabeth Taylor's 1956 Lincoln Vehicle to Display at L.A. Auto Show

What was the most surprising characteristic or aspect of Elizabeth's personality that the public may not be aware of?

I think the humor, to be honest. I don't think people -- unless they met her -- realized that. And also, the "I couldn't give a f---" attitude. She was amazingly good at remaining famous but she had the strength of character to deal with it. She was incredibly wise. At a young age, at 16 or 17, she realized Elizabeth Taylor was a commodity. It had little to do with necessarily her real self. She never confused the two, which can often happen when people are young and famous. She never let go of her own private sense of self.

What most impressed you after playing her?

She was a woman. Not a lot of woman these days are women. She had the curves, she had the boobs, she had the sexuality and she was in touch with her sexuality too. She loved food and she loved sex. I find these days people forget to enjoy the food. Her appetite for all things sexual and sensual is a great example of a great legacy. She had fun. They [Elizabeth and Richard] had a great time together. 

What did you take from Elizabeth and Richard's relationship?

They always had profound respect for each other as actors, and they were each other's No. 1 support and fan. Ultimately and profoundly, there was something very stable, sane and healthy about their relationship. What attracted her originally to him was his vulnerability that touched her, and she definitely had something in her that needed to heal broken people. He, in reverse, gave her some respect. They offered each other a lot privately. It wasn't just mad lust. There's a reason they kept on trying to attempt to be together. My take on it is they were both addicts. I think it was probably difficult for Richard to be with Elizabeth without having all the drinks they habitually had. 

Did your perception change after this movie?

She was very down-to-earth. She wasn't neurotic. She wasn't a victim. She was always her own mistress. People loved her more by the end of filming.

You had to physically transform for this role. What was that moment like, seeing yourself with the hair, makeup and wardrobe?

It was fun dressing up as her. You've got the furs, the diamonds, the twinklies. You know, I'm not glamorous -- I'm just innately not. But having the wig and the contact lenses -- at first I couldn't see a thing -- it just appealed to me. A lot of the time, I'm keeping alive the little girl who likes dressing up when it comes to acting. It was great padding the bra for my boobs. In the beginning, I thought "This is such a stupid job to do" because I don't look like Elizabeth Taylor -- but at least it was in her 50s. Before I signed on [to do the movie], I said the only way I'm going to do it is if Jenny Shircore, an amazing makeup artist, and Carol Hemming, who I've worked with so long, and [costume designer] Susanna Buxton could create her silhouette. It's not going to be exact because I don't look like her and it should be like, "I want to play a tribute to this woman." I deliberately chose to put the mole on the other side of my face because it's not about an exact science. If I could conjure some essences or a sketch of her humanity, then that's my job.

Last fall, Lifetime did its own Elizabeth Taylor biopic with Lindsay Lohan, Liz & Dick. Did you watch it?

I didn't watch it. We have a very different ambition. Theirs probably is spread over more years than ours. [Burton and Taylor is] not a biopic by any standard and it doesn't strive to be that. It just covers a drama in their lives over a particular passage of time in their late 50s. 

Burton and Taylor premieres Wednesday at 9 p.m. on BBC America.

E-mail: Philiana.Ng@THR.com
Twitter: @insidethetube

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thr/international/~3/i1_291x-8H8/story01.htm
Category: steve bartman   How To Close Apps On Ios7   Galaxy Note 3   will smith   Frank Castillo  

These Designers Make Boring Old Video Cameras Do Impossible Tricks

Video cameras have traditionally been used to document the world in a pretty straightforward manner. But they've become so small, and so versatile, that you can do some incredible things with them. Like the crazy world

Read more...

Source: http://gizmodo.com/these-designers-make-boring-old-video-cameras-do-imposs-1444863383
Category: Ed Sheeran   torrie wilson   Tom Harmon   lil kim   Dufnering  

Michael Bay Gives Play-By-Play Of How He Got Attacked By 'Drugged Up' Guys on Transformers Set!

You can't script an attack this crazy!

Director Michael Bay is talking for the first time since being assaulted in Hong Kong while filming Transformers 4!

The Hollywood heavy-hitter took to his personal blog to get the facts straight about what went down on the set this week. According to Bay, this was all an attempt at extortion!

It all started on their first day of shooting when the crew had to deal with a group of greedy brothers! Michael explained:

"…some drugged up guys were being belligerent asses to my crew for hours in the morning of our first shoot day in Hong Kong. One guy rolled metal carts into some of my actors trying to shake us down for thousands of dollars to not play his loud music or hit us with bricks."

The film had previously paid a fair price to all of the vendors on the street where they were shooting for their inconvenience. But the Mak brothers, as police later identified them as, wanted MORE money!

Michael put his foot down and told them that wasn't going to happen! He described the confrontation:

"I personally told this man and his friends to forget it we were not going to let him extort us. He didn’t like that answer. So an hour later he came by my crew as we were shooting, carrying a long air conditioner unit. He walked right up to me and tried to smack my face, but I ducked."

OMG! Who uses an A/C unit as a weapon?!

Security soon pounced on the guy but it took SEVEN of them to bring him down!

Bay described the assailant as being like a zombie in Brad Pitt's movie World War Z because in addition to his super strength, he actually tried to bite one of the guards!

Holy hell! That is scary!

In the end, it took 15 Hong Kong police in riot gear to take away the four men charged with the attack! They were all placed under arrest and dragged from the set.

Michael's injuries weren't serious and he refused medical attention. And as he puts it, they had a great day shooting after all of this went down!

Woah! What a way to start the work day!

[Image via Ramey Pix.]

Tags: arrest, assault, attack, film flickers, filming, icky icky poo, michael bay, movie, scary, scary!, security, shooting, transformers

Source: http://perezhilton.com/2013-10-19-michael-bay-describes-being-attacked-on-transformers-set-on-personal-blog
Tags: broncos   katy perry  

Verizon is trying out a scheme where it'll offer same-day delivery for phones ordered online--first

Verizon is trying out a scheme where it'll offer same-day delivery for phones ordered online—first in Philadelphia, then hopefully in NYC, Dallas, San Francisco and Pittsburgh. Just in case you really, really need that new handset right now.

Read more...

Source: http://gizmodo.com/verizon-is-trying-out-a-scheme-where-itll-offer-same-da-1446278680
Tags: Texas A&m Football   reggie bush   dallas cowboys   Jason Heyward   Huntington Beach riot  

The Birth Of Bird: Young Charlie Parker Found Focus, Faith In Music

Charlie Parker started playing as a boy, when his mother gave him a saxophone to cheer him up after his father left. He went on to spearhead a musical revolution.

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Charlie Parker started playing as a boy, when his mother gave him a saxophone to cheer him up after his father left. He went on to spearhead a musical revolution.

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Charlie "Bird" Parker was one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. In his brief life, Parker created a new sound on the alto saxophone and spearheaded a revolution in harmony and improvisation that pushed popular music from the swing era to bebop and modern jazz.

In Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker, scholar and author Stanley Crouch tells the story of Parker's early years and his rise to prominence. But Crouch says he didn't want to tell the same old story of young black musicians overcoming obstacles.

"These guys, they thought about life," he says. "Oh yes, they thought about being colored, but they also thought about life. And people came to hear you because you played life. It wasn't because you played, 'Oh, I'm just a poor colored man over here, just doing some poor colored things. I'm thinking about my poor colored girl and how the white man is not going to let us blah blah.' That wasn't what they were playing."

'I Put Quite A Bit Of Study Into The Horn'

Crouch's book opens with a triumphant moment in Parker's career. It's February 1942 and the 21-year-old alto player is on the bandstand at Harlem's Savoy Ballroom, performing with the Jay McShann Orchestra for a live radio broadcast. He steps up to solo and Crouch explains what happens next:

When the band started throwing up stock riffs behind him, Parker sidestepped the familiar shapes, issuing his responses from deep in left field.

... Each chorus was getting hotter; it was clear, from the position of his body and the sound of his horn, that Charlie Parker was not going to give in. All the nights he had worked on it, the flubs, the fumblings, the sore lips, mouth, and tongue, the cramped fingers — they all paid off that afternoon. Suddenly, the man with the headphones was signaling McShann, Don't stop! Don't stop! Keep on playing!

In 1980, the late pianist and bandleader Jay McShann described how Parker's sound grabbed him the first time he heard it.

"One particular night, I happened to be coming through the streets and I heard the sound coming out. And this was a different sound, so I went inside to see who was blowing," he said. "So I walked up to Charlie after he finished playing and I asked him, I said, 'Say man,' I said, 'where are you from?' I said, 'I thought I met most of the musicians around here.' Well, he says, 'I'm from Kansas City.' But he says, 'I've been gone for the last two or three months. Been down to the Ozarks woodshedding.' "

All that woodshedding — practicing in isolation, running through every tune in every key — took Parker's playing to the next level. In a 1954 radio interview, Parker told fellow alto player Paul Desmond that that was his goal from the beginning.

"I put quite a bit of study into the horn, that's true," he said. "In fact, the neighbors threatened to ask my mother to move once when we were living out West. She said I was driving them crazy with the horn. I used to put in at least 11 to 15 hours a day. ... I did that for over a period of three or four years."

Crouch says Parker was intense about everything. When he was researching Kansas City Lightning, Parker's friend Bob Redcross told him that Parker had a deep intellectual curiosity.

"They read history books. They went to museums," Crouch says. "Redcross told me, once he said, 'Yes, Charles and I, we would sit and we would discuss Sherlock Holmes, or we would talk about history. We were always reading magazines. We were always doing stuff that people don't think that we did.'"

Stanley Crouch's previous works include The Artificial White Man: Essays on Authenticity and Considering Genius: Writings on Jazz.

Zack Zook/Courtesy of Harper

Stanley Crouch's previous works include The Artificial White Man: Essays on Authenticity and Considering Genius: Writings on Jazz.

Zack Zook/Courtesy of Harper

Finding Redemption In 'Beautiful Notes'

Then there are the more well-known stories about Parker: He dropped out of high school and picked up a heroin habit; he married his teenaged sweetheart, then abandoned her and his child; he missed rehearsals and didn't show up for gigs. In 1942, McShann fired him.

"We told Bird to take a little vacation because we were in Detroit, and he got feeling pretty good there, you know," McShann remembered. "And so we says, 'Why don't you take a little vacation, Bird, and just cool it. And so he did."

Parker may have neglected his personal and professional relationships, but Crouch says he was never unfaithful to his music.

"The thing to me that's most inspirational about Charlie Parker is that he felt that you could only redeem yourself for bad things by doing something that was beautiful," he says. "He felt that he could give the world beautiful notes."

Crouch is currently writing the second volume of his Parker biography, which will cover the saxophonist's New York career, the 1940s bebop revolution and Parker's death in 1955 at the age of 34.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/10/19/237040499/the-birth-of-bird-young-charlie-parker-found-focus-faith-in-music?ft=1&f=1039
Related Topics: charlie hunnam   nobel peace prize   Kaepernick   world trade center   Duck Dynasty  

Adrian Peterson -- NFL Star Has ANOTHER Secret Child

Adrian Peterson
Has ANOTHER Secret Child

Exclusive

Adrian Peterson fathered a 4th child -- his 2nd secret child -- and the mother was a waitress at a popular Minnesota nightclub, TMZ has learned.

We've confirmed ... the child is a 3-month-old little girl who's living with her mom in Minnesota.

Sources close to the situation tell us the child's last name on her birth certificate is listed as "Peterson."

On the day Peterson's 2-year-old son Ty passed away, the mother of AP's 4th child posted an emotional message on her Facebook page about the situation.

"Today has been a long day finding out my [daughter's] brother passed away and knowing that she never even got to meet him."

Sources connected to the situation tell us ... the mother of AP's 4th child first met the NFL star while serving him as a VIP waitress at a place called Seven -- a steakhouse, sushi joint and ultralounge all wrapped in one.

It's unclear how involved Adrian has been in the child's life -- but the mother recently posted a photo showing the child decked out in Minnesota Vikings gear, so we're guessing they're cool.

Peterson has fathered 3 other children -- a 6-year-old daughter, a 2-year-old son and another son, who died just months after AP learned he was the father. 

We called AP & the child's mother for comment -- so far, no word back.

Get TMZ Breaking News alerts to your inbox

Source: http://www.tmz.com/2013/10/15/adrian-peterson-secret-child/
Category: Gta 5 Online Not Working   hocus pocus   once upon a time   Demi Lovato   Jamaal Charles